1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for compensating for the swinging movement of guide bars on a warp knitting machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A very useful description of the state of the warp knitting art may be found in a book entitled "Warp Knitting Technology" by D. F. Paling, Columbine Press Ltd., first published in 1,952 and reprinted in 1970. That book is especially useful in understanding conventional warp knitting features such as the guide bar swinging mechanism.
It is well known in the warp knitting art that it is difficult to utilize an even number of guide bars where it is desirable to knit across two sets of needle bars. In general central bars cannot be symmetrically oriented with respect to the needle bars. The difficult resides in the fact that if the guide bars swing through an arc to come into operating association with a second needle bed, then it is very likely that the guides in the guide bar will not be lined up parallel with the needles and other elements of the needle bed. This slight angular displacement can be very undesirable where the gaps between the needles are small. For the foregoing reasons one generally could not operate with an even number of guide bars activated by push rods unless one used the so-called "Riegel" drive which is known to cause high friction and to operate with substantial undesirable torque. Even using this method, the total number of guide bars is limited. Accordingly, an apparatus and method was needed which would compensate for the undesirable angular displacement of guide bars so that an even number of guide bars could be used on a warp knitting machine.